Gray Maynard wants a fourth fight with Frankie Edgar, but wants UFC title even more

After some of the tension and frustration had worn off Friday, Gray Maynard started to think about what might be next.

Maynard (11-1-1 MMA, 9-1-1 UFC), a two-time UFC lightweight title challenger, got back in the win column at UFC on FX 4 with a split decision victory over Clay Guida (29-13 MMA, 9-7 UFC) in arguably one of the year’s strangest fights.

With his win not an hour old, Maynard already was name-dropping his three-time nemesis, Frankie Edgar, as someone he’d like to fight again. Yes, that old chestnut. But most importantly, Maynard wants another crack at the UFC lightweight title – regardless of who he has to go through to get his hands on the belt.

In just under 200 minutes of professional fighting in his MMA career, Edgar and Maynard have fought for nearly 59 minutes. To put that in a little perspective, in a little more than six years, Maynard has fought Edgar about 30 percent of his actual time in the cage. So really, a fourth fight is something of an inevitability. So, too, might be a fifth or sixth.

“Of course I’m trying to go for the belt again,” Maynard said at the UFC on FX 4 post-event news conference, which MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) attended at Revel Atlantic City in New Jersey. “I think the Edgar fight is a good fight, part four. But the ultimate – I want the belt.”

Maynard’s 2011, though memorable, is probably a year he’d rather forget. He nearly had Edgar finished in the first round at UFC 125. But Edgar survived him and went on to force a draw. After both fighter recovered from injuries, they fought again at UFC 136 – where Maynard again had Edgar on the ropes. But again, Edgar survived – and handed Maynard the first loss of his MMA career.

After that, Maynard changed camps from his longtime home at Xtreme Couture to the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif. And now, with the win over Guida in the books – the third straight five-round fight he’s had to train for – he’s ready to take things up one more notch.

“It was a long camp, and it feels good to get a win,” said Maynard, who saw his hand raised for the first time since August 2010. “I’ve just got to get back in the gym, evolve more, learn more – and there’s a lot to improve on.”

Just how soon Maynard will be ready for his next fight remains to be seen. He’s out 45 days from a cut on his face, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be back to training much sooner than that.

His old pal Edgar lost his lightweight title to Benson Henderson in February – but rematches him in August. The way Maynard would like things to go, he said, is Edgar gets his belt back against Henderson, and that keeps Maynard in line to take someone else out and get another 25 minutes with the Toms River, N.J., fighter.

“That’s all I want,” Maynard said. “I’ve come up short a couple times. But I changed my whole life to try it again.”

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

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